Credit: Patrick Grego
Ted Secor has been elected to the Stanford Town Board to complete the remainder of Ann Arent’s term, which ends next year, following the certification of election results by the Dutchess County Board of Elections.
Secor, a Democrat, beat his Republican opponent Adrienne Zetterberg by a razor-thin margin of seven votes, 1,062 to 1,055. He confirmed his intention to seek a full four-year term in 2025.
Secor spoke to the Herald this week about the suspense of election night and then waiting for absentee ballots to be counted. “I think everybody around the country probably felt that tension, good or bad,” he said. “As the updates came in slowly and the county dragged their feet, I started to realize,‘Oh, maybe I have a chance at this.”
Secor acknowledged the significance of the narrow win and the work ahead to build trust among all residents. “There are definitely those people who vote just their party line, Democrat or Republican,” he said. “I need to reach out to those voters and explain why I ran and reassure them that I’m not just a Democrat when I’m on the board — I’m part of the town.”
Environmental conservation, affordability, and incremental progress are central to Secor’s platform. He emphasized the importance of balanced decision-making to address the town’s needs. “Stanford needs to make adjustments — governmentally and infrastructurally — but we need to do it in a reasonable way,” Secor said. Some things, he said, like environmental conservation and the implementation of good cause eviction protections for renters, need immediate attention, while he acknowledged that infrastructure updates will take more time.
On Monday, Secor will travel to Albany, where he along with representatives from eight other municipalities will present their opposition to the expansion of the Iroquois Pipeline to Gov. Hochul’s office.
